New Beginnings
by Imp168
Summary: Tessa has been thrown out of her creator's home on to the lawn of Foster's. Now she has to learn to make it with her new life and friends, and eventually accept the fact that she might get adopted out again. This one's mainly for me, guys. Hope you like!
1. Chapter 1

**New Beginnings**

**Chapter 1: ****Tessa**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. I would like to pretend that I do, but then I'd be arrested. Dx Stupid screwed up society! T.T**

Tessa watched sadly out the window, as the black Toyota drove away. As she watched, it became a black streak, smearing into everything else, like a watercolor painting thrown into a tub of water. She swiped her eyes with the back of her fabric-like hand. _Stop crying! Don't let them see…_ She looked back to the window, just in time to see the black pick-up pull away.

Tessa—name preference, Tess—was an imaginary friend. An unusual imaginary friend at that; she was a ragdoll. She had brown yarn hair, incredibly long arms and legs, and a tiny torso. She wore a purple child's jumper and a pink shirt, white knee socks, and purple Mary Jane's. Her eyes were big, and looked stitched on, but were also sad, almost haunting. Her mouth, which was probably supposed to be an ever-constant smile, was now stuck in a terribly sad frown. She, however lanky, wasn't much taller than the blue blobby-thingy that was suddenly standing next to her.

Tess jumped. She hadn't noticed the blue blobby-thingy before that moment.

"Hey, there! Who're you looking at? Is that your creator?" He tried to look over her shoulder out the window, but gave up and gave her big smile. He seemed overjoyed to see her, even though they'd never actually met before. Tess gave him a blank stare, not wanting to give away any emotions.

He waited for a response for a moment before continuing. "Oh, you don't say. Well, I'm Blooregaurd Q. Kazoo: bestest imaginary friend this house has ever seen, paddleball extraordinaire, and nicest person you'll ever meet! And, might I ask what _your _name is?

Tessa tried to take a step backwards, but her back was already up against the wall of the front foyer of the strange Victorian style house. She raised her eyebrow instead.

"Bloo…!" A woman's voice came from behind the blob. Blooregaurd turned to face the source.

"Wha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-at?" He whined back.

A tall lanky red-head walked up on them, hand on her hips. "Stop traumatizing the new girl!" She said tersely. "Can't you see she's been through enough already?"

_Traumatized? …Me? Do I look traumatized? _ She realized she must look terrified, considering her eyes were ever-huge, and she _was_ backed up against the wall.

"I'm not traumatizing her! I'm introducing myself." The smug self-proclaimed bestest friend/paddleball/nice guy folded his arms, and stuck his not-so-nose in the air. "The way you sounded, you'd think it was a _crime_ to greet people! Well, Frankie Foster, it is NO CRIME to be nice for once!

Tess has to swallow down a smile. Mr. Bestest Paddleball Guy was breaking down his own cover story right in front of her, and he didn't notice. She could have laughed.

The red-head—Tess found it safe to assume her name was Frankie—walked closer to Tess. "Is this Bloo-guy bothering you? I can get him to leave."

"Heyyyyyyy!!" Bloo interjected.

Tess didn't like having anyone she didn't trust too well close to her, especially if they were adults. She tried to discreetly shrink away, covering the action with a shrug.

"Bloo, go away, please!" Frankie said curtly to the blob.

"But, Frankiiiieee, Mac…"

"Won't be here for another 15 minutes; go wait for him _upstairs_." She raised her eyebrows on the last word.

"Fine…" folding his arms, the blob slouched off towards the grand staircase.

Frankie waited to make sure he was gone, then crouched down to be eye-level with Tess. She tried to give her a sympathetic look.

"How're you holding up? …R'you okay?"

Tess didn't make eye contact. She looked at her shoes and shrugged.

"Do you want anything?"

Shrug.

"Did you bring anything with you?"

Shake head, no.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Shrug.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Tess shook her head hard. _You saw what happened._ She thought. _ You saw the whole thing._

The 'whole thing' had happened out on the front lawn of Foster's. In fact, Frankie had been right outside. Fico, Tess' creator's father, had grown tired of Tess, apparently. He was sick of taking care of Naomi, her creator, let alone Naomi's 'imaginary twin'. The two had been together ever since Naomi's mother had died of pneumonia when Naomi was four. Tess had been Naomi's only 'real friend since.

Anyway, on this day, Fico had grown completely tired of Tess, and threw her out—'threw' being used in the literal sense. Tess and Naomi had woken up as usual, done their chores as usual, and gone out back and played in the yard together as usual. Nothing had been unusual until Fico, drunk at an _un_usual time of day, had come out there, grabbed Tessa by her yarn-ish hair, dragged her to the black pick-up, and threw her out of it onto the lawn of Foster's. Then he yelled at her, saying she was horrible and a waste of time, money, and energy. He'd thrown more than just words at her, too. He'd thrown dirt, beer cans, and the occasional rock.

Frankie had been the one to come to her rescue. She'd rushed Tess inside, and then took up the 'conversation' with Fico. The conversation being them yelling at each other and fighting on the front lawn until he drove away in the black Toyota.

And, here they were…

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Frankie pursued.

Shrug.

"Okay, then…" Frankie sighed. "Come with me, then, and we'll get you set up he…" She was cut off by shriek from the intercom.

"Miss Francis! Come to my office immediately!"

"What? I'm already on my way! Sheesh!" Frankie's mood took a sudden plummet from sweet to sour at the sound of the voice.

"Oh, very well, then; we have a few important matters that need discussing _right now_." The voice, a stern British accent, sounded angry. To Tess, it sounded pretty horrifying. The last thing she wanted to do was go the office he'd mentioned, even with Frankie.

"Boy, do we…" Frankie muttered, mostly to herself. Her hand was clenched, probably unnoticed by its owner. "C'mon, kid; we got to talk to big ol' fuzz-butt.

…

"There you are, Miss Francis!" An overgrown rabbit with a top hat and a monocle stood up fiercely from the desk when they entered. He was more foreboding in person than he was 

over the intercom. "I am appalled by your performance outside with that gentleman! I cannot believe you would to that to a potential adopter, and…"

Frankie cut him off. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! A potential adopter? …Gentleman? Wha…? What are you talking about? He was drunk, threw an imaginary friend out of his car, and threw dirt at her! And, think he was looking to _adopt_?! Jeez, rabbit, what is your mental issue? And, if you were so 'appalled'" she made quotation marks with her fingers, "by my performance, why didn't you do something about it before, huh?"

The rabbit sputtered. "That is none of your business, Miss Francis, and I'll have you know…"

Frankie smiled wickedly and cut him off again. "You got locked in your bathroom again, didn't you?"

There was a three second pause, then, "…Yes, but that is beside the point! The point is…"

The point is you need to register a new friend!" She looked back, saw Tess, and moved aside so she would be in full view of Mr. Herriman.

The rabbit looked completely mortified for a second before regaining his composure. He cleared his throat. "Right-o, then," He said a little too cheerily. He went a little red around the cheeks. "I suppose we _do_ in fact need to register you." He was speaking a little too loudly, obviously still embarrassed by his bathroom plight. "Com, come; sit here, and we shall get started." He pointed to one of the chairs in front of the desk.

Suddenly, Tess knew that that chair was the last place she wanted to be. She wanted to be home, playing with Naomi in the backyard of the rundown house. She thought about what Naomi was doing right now. Tess knew that Fico would be laughing at her stupidly, while Naomi cried helplessly on the rug in her room. Tess tried not to cry with her.

The rabbit's clearing his throat again broke her from her silent thoughts. "Sit, please." He said, this time a little more insistently. Tess cringed back a little, ready to run for the door. She looked to Frankie.

"It's okay, kid; c'mon, and we can get you settled." Frankie smiled warmly at her, and patted the back of the chair the rabbit had indicated.

Tess cautiously walked up to it, looked at both of them, and hoisted herself in to the winged chair, scrunching down into it, as to make herself as small and as far away from them as possible. Frankie sat down in the chair on Tess' right.

Well, first off," said the rabbit, "Welcome to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. I am Mr. Herriman, head of business affairs here." He held out his hand for Tess to shake; Tess 

avoided the gloved appendage, like it had an infectious disease, by shrinking even further into the chair. This caused Mr. Herriman to blink, but go on, only a little disturbed.

"Here at Foster's, our objective is to take in as many abandoned and unneeded friends as possible. We bring them here where children in need of an imaginary friend can come adopt one, and take them home with them.

Tess felt a pit open up in her stomach. _Adoption? I'm being put out for adoption? What kind of madhouse is this?_

Mr. Herriman continued, undeterred by her distress. "All this is done by the proper paperwork, of course. Now, with your help, we shall fill out your paperwork, so you can join this marvelous cycle." He semi-smile, reached into his desk, and came out with a stack of slightly yellow papers, placing them on the desk in front of him.

Tessa wanted to scream. She wanted to tell them she had a perfectly good child back at home; that there was no reason she should be put up for adoption. She wanted to tell him there was no way on earth or in hell that she was going to help him with this stupid paperwork. She desperately wanted to tell him, but she knew she wouldn't. She knew she couldn't.

She stole a glance up at Mr. Herriman and Frankie, but they had their gaze trained on _her_, somewhat expectantly. Frankie raised her eyebrows when Tess made eye contact with her, again, as if she was expecting something.

"Are you hard of hearing, child? I asked you a question!" Mr. Herriman was _definitely_ annoyed with her now. Tess was oblivious. _Oh, no, what did he ask now? Crud, what did I miss?_

She looked sheepishly down, bringing her shoulders level with her ears; she gave an apologetic look.

"Are you hard of hearing, then?" asked an irritated Mr. Herriman.

Tess shook her head.

"Then answer the question, child! What is your full name?"

A moment of silence passed between them. Tess was in full panic mode trying to find a response to the question that didn't involve talking. It wasn't that she didn't know how, oh, no, she knew how, all right. She was, in fact, very good at talking. The problem was, she didn't trust either of them much, and she hated—no, despised—talking to someone she didn't trust. Meaning, she had hardly ever talked to anyone but Naomi. Tess squirmed under the eye of Mr. Herriman.

"We can't fill out the proper paperwork if you don't tell us your name!" Mr. Herriman said, raising his voice a little. It sounded almost a whine. Tess couldn't help but cringe backwards a little again.

"Chill, rabbit!" Frankie snapped, noticing Tessa's discomfort. To Tess, she said a little nicer, "Would you please tell us your name? We would really like to know..."Frankie smiled another wide, warm smile.

Tess looked at her hands folded in her lap, took a deep breath and whispered "Tessa Marie Lea."

"Speak up, child" snapped Mr. Herriman.

Tess rolled her eyes, grabbed the form and pen from the uptight rabbit's hand, and wrote _Tessa Marie Lea _in a scrawling, slanting hand. She smiled down at her work. It was her first smile in a long time.

**A/n: Okay, guys. I'm back with another story! (No, this didn't take too much time away from Instant Mac, because I wrote this in only an hour. I hope you like this one. It's only going to be about 4 chapters, I've decided; NOT a major undertaking like Instant Mac is. I think this is more of a story of healing for me than anything else. It WILL, in fact, be slow in production like Instant Mac, because I'm moving next week, but I'm gonna keep on this as best I can. Hope you like, and please review! xP **

**Imp**


	2. Meeting Duchess

Chapter 2:

Chapter 2:

**A/n: Well, so much for getting this up before moving day. Oh, well, it didn't suffer too much…it WOULD HAVE been up if my brother hadn't come and stolen my computer on WEDNESDAY instead of Friday like he was supposed to…aw, never mind, because, HERE IT IS!!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fosters. If I did, there would be no need to write a disclaimer, and this would not be here on , so get off my case, people! (you know who you are!)**

"Hey, Bloo, what's up?" A short, large headed kid walked through the front door of Foster's.

"Oh, hey, Mac; nuttin' much. I was just waiting for you. Hey, wanna play Cras-Smashers IV in the arcade?" Bloo had been sitting on the middle step of the grand staircase, but came down to meet Mac.

"Sounds awesome; let's go!" The two had only taken a step towards the game room before the door to Mr. Herriman's office opened and two people—well, a person and an imaginary friend—stepped out.

"…and, oh crud, I have to run to the market…" Frankie was saying to the living rag doll next to her, "I guess we'll have Wilt give you the tour. Sheesh, it seems as if that's become his job, lately…oh, hey Mac." She said when she saw them.

"Hi, Frankie," Mac replied, "Who's this?"

"Oh, yeah…Mac, this is Tessa; Tessa, this is Mac; and I guess you've kinda already met Bloo…" She pointed at each of them in turn.

"It's great to meet you, Tessa," Mac said, politely reaching out his hand for her to shake, "Where're you from?"

Tess, who was looking at the floor, didn't say anything, and didn't reach out to shake. She just lifted her hand in a slight wave, and half smile.

"C'mon, Mac, let's go!" Bloo cut in, impatiently, grabbing Mac's arm.

"Hold up, Bloo, I'm talking to Tessa." The boy tried to persist. "Do you like it here at Foster's so far?"

Tess shrugged—something she'd been doing a lot of lately—and smiled.

"C'mon, Mac, she doesn't talk! Let's _go_!" Bloo tugged harder on Mac's arm.

Mac looked to Frankie. "Really…?"

"Bloo! Don't be so rude!" Frankie sounded horrified. "Of coarse she can talk!"

"Well, she sure wasn't talking to me!" Bloo feigned mock hurt. "Who wouldn't want to talk to _me_? I'm, like, the coolest, most nicest guy around!"

Both Mac and Frankie tried to cover snickers of disagreement.

"Hey! That was UNCALLED for, people! Mac, I shall show _you_ who the superior being is through a match of Crash-Smashers IV!! Let's go, RIGHT NOW!!"

"Hold it, Blooregaurd! Have either of you seen Wilt?"

Mac shook his head. "Don't look at me, I just got here."

"Aw, he said something about something about '…sorry…helping…Madame…' whatever. Let's GO, Mac!"

"Dang it…" Frankie put her hand on her forehead in dismay. "Eduardo…?"

"…Went along with them." Bloo cut in again.

"Aw, crud…"

"What do you need them to do, Frankie?" Mac inquired.

"Probably for something _tall_, Mac, let's _go_!!" Bloo was getting annoyed pretty quickly.

"Oh, I gotta run to the store right now to get stuff for dinner. I was going to have one of them show Tessa around." She sighed.

Mac smiled brightly. "We could do it, Frankie. We know the house just as well as they do; we could _totally_ do it!"

"But, MA-AC…"

"Could you?" Frankie's face lit up. "That would be awesome, guys! Here…" She handed them a manila folder; this was Mr. Herriman's new—and actually _workable_—system: give the newcomer a folder containing a—abridged—set of the rulebook, and a map of Foster's with their bedroom marked on it to reduce havoc and confusion.

"Fine," Bloo gave in and folded his stubby arms.

"Lighten up, Bloo. C'mon, Tessa, there's so much to see! I guess you've already seen Mr. Herriman's office," he pointed to the door they'd just come out of, "and the foyer," he surveyed the room they were in, "I guess we'll start in the kitchen."

"Thanks sooo much, Mac. It's about 3:15 now," she checked her watch, "I guess I'll be back around 5 so I can get dinner started." She smiled again. "Thanks again, Mac; see ya!"

"Bye!" Frankie left; he turned and smiled at Tess. "So, that's Frankie. She's nice, isn't she?"

Tess smiled and nodded.

"…I guess you've met Mr. Herriman,"

Tess rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated look, causing Mac and Bloo to laugh.

"I know, _totally_!" Bloo said, suddenly happy. "He's such a stiff, believe me!"

Tess grinned.

"Bloo," Mac rebuked, still smiling at his comment, "he can be real strict, but he really is nice…"

Tess raised an eyebrow and Bloo folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

Mac laughed again. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

…oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo…

Even thought Tess continued not to talk, they still managed to carry on a whole 'conversation' all the way to the second floor main corridor, where they ran into Coco.

"Co co, co co coco co?" The bird/tree/airplane thing greeted them.

"Oh, hi, Coco, yeah, were doing fine."

"Co coco co?"

Yeah, we're giving her the tour."

"Co, co co coco co cococo co?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, this is Tessa, Tessa, this is Coco." Mac introduced.

"Coco!"

Tess was unsure about the newcomer. She looked pretty fierce, although she sounded pretty nice. Tess still decided it was probably better to stay just behind Mac. She gave a half smile and waved at the bird thing.

"Co co coco co co coco?" She asked politely.

Tess shrugged, smiled and nodded in answer to Coco's question.

"Whoa, wait!" Mac was surprised. "You can understand Coco?"

Tess nodded.

"Wow, that's amazing! It took _me_ a little while to be completely sure on what she was saying."

Tess smiled sheepishly back at Mac.

"Co coco co coco, cococo?"

Tess shook her head, and Mac said, "No, she really doesn't talk all that much."

"Coco co?"

"Yeah," Bloo said incredulously to Tess, "Why don't you talk, Tessa?"

She looked at the floor and shuffled her feet.

"Yeah, you _really_ think she's gonna answer you, stupid?" Mac said, and then laughed. Both Coco and Tess joined in with him for the sheer joy of it.

…oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo…

After dinner, Tess was hanging out in the kitchen with Frankie, helping her with dishes. Frankie was doing most of the talking, but Tess was actually throwing a few words in here and there.

"…And so," Frankie was saying, "Bloo, Mac, and the pizza guy piled on top of each other, put on a trench coat, mustache, and top hat, and called themselves Orlando Bloo!" She was telling Tess about the date she'd had that Bloo had ruined. "That's not the best part," she laughed, "They actually got an imaginary prince friend to dress up like a woman and go as 'Orlando's' 'date'!" She burst into another fit of giggles.

Tess was sitting on a cutting board on the counter next to the sink. She was laughing hard too.

"So, what did you do?" Tess' voice was higher than Frankie's, and a lot quieter. It had kind of a child's quality about it, although it spoke of years and sorrows at the same time.

"Well, turns out, the guy was a total jerk, and started dis'ing on them right there in the middle of the restaurant when he thought I was in the bathroom." She handed Tess a plate to dry and put away. "First, I gave Princey a black eye, then gave the guy a nosebleed and left him at the restaurant."

Tess smiled wile placing the plate in a cupboard. "Wow…"

Just then, Madame Foster, Wilt, and Eduardo walked into the kitchen from the back door.

"Oh, hey, guys, hey grandma." Frankie turned around to greet them. "Where've you guys been? We had to have dinner without you." She put her hands on her hips.

Tess slid off the counter, put her hands behind her back, and leaned up against it shyly. The old woman and tall red friend looked nice enough, but the big purple one looked ferocious. She subtly examined the friend's horns and giant teeth. She cringed back a little when he turned and saw her.

"Oh, seniorita Frankie, who is this?" He said smiling wide. He had a Spanish accent.

"Oh, this is Tess; Tess, this is Eduardo, that's Wilt, and this is my grandma, Madame Foster. Grandma, where'd you guys go?"

"Hi, seniorita Tess!"

"Oh, nowhere, dearie! Don't you worry your pretty little head about it." She suspiciously tittered out of the room.

Frankie folded her arms and turned to Wilt. "Okay, Wilt, what happened?" He sounded ready to hear the worst.

"Um…sorry, Frankie, I don't think Madame Foster wants me to tell you…sorry, is that okay?" His non-wonky eye was frantically looking back and forth for a way out of answering.

"Did she tell you _not_ to tell?"

"Well, uh, no, but…"

"Then spill." Frankie wasn't playing around with him. Tess could tell she was serious.

"Uh, uh, I can't, I, uh, I think I hear Bloo calling me…" Wilt hurried towards the door; Bloo, promptly walked in the other door to the kitchen.

"No, I don't think I was calling Wilt…" he said. Bloo was carrying a green sucker, which was stuck to his hand.

"We know…" Frankie said, looking after Wilt.

"Eh's okay, seniorita Frankie. We took care of everything. The police said dey would have to talk to you about Madame Foster, but eh's probably nothing to worry about. Dey just want to set a court date."

Frankie's eyes were as big as saucers. "Oh, no, what happened?" She put her hand over her face.

"Not'ing you should worry about, Frankie. You only have to think about it when the police come." With that, Eduardo skipped out of the room. He seemed oddly happy for some reason.

"Y'know," Bloo said, waving his arm around to get the sticky candy off, "I _really_ don't remember calling Wilt. I wonder what he meant."

Both Frankie and Tess slapped their foreheads at the same time.

"No, Bloo, that was just an excuse for him so he could get out of answering the question." Frankie shook her head.

Tess nodded in agreement.

"Well," he said finally succeeding to get the sucker off of his now sticky appendage, "I still don't get it."

Tess reached back up to the counter, grabbed the last three cups, dried them, and put them away. "Where's Mac?" She asked quietly. "Did he go home?"

"Oh, hey, you _do_ talk!" Bloo, suddenly shocked, looked up at her from the sink, where he was trying to dissolve the apple-smelling sticky goodness off of his hand. "Yeah, he had to skedaddle so his mom wouldn't get mad." He threw the sucker in the general direction of the garbage can, missing horribly. Instead, it stuck to the wall above it, and three feet the left.

"Eeeewww!!" Frankie made a repulsed face and stuck her tongue out. "Clean that up _right now_, Blooregaurd!"

Bloo sighed, "Fine," and grabbed a paper towel. He mumbled something about slave labor, but Frankie didn't hear.

…oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo…

Tessa was lying on her back on the bed of her new room. The said 'room' didn't exactly have what it advertised: room. Slightly bigger than a janitorial closet, someone had managed to squeeze in there a twin bed, a dresser, a nightstand, and a throw-rug. Tess would have felt claustrophobic if it weren't for the—relatively—large window on the one wall. If it hadn't been for the window, Tess would have thought for sure that they'd thrown her into, what had been in a previous life, a supply closet.

_At least this has all the amenities…_she thought, trying to be optimistic, but failing horribly. She had been 'lovingly' provided with a care-package of dental-hygiene, shower essentials, and bed coverings. The toothpaste tasted like minty-caulk, the 'shower essentials' looked as if they'd come straight out of a hotel room, the sheets were itchy, and the blankets smelled of hammy-vomit. Tess tried not to breathe at the same time as hyperventilating.

She sat up, managed the old, decrepit blinds, and forced open the old window, which had almost been rendered completely un-openable by the weather. She pressed her cheek against the old, musty screen and tried to breathe fresh, non-vomit air. She looked out across the grounds of Foster's and breathed a sigh. Her room looked out on the backyard of the house. Kneeling on the bed, breathing fresh—albeit fused with the must of old screen—air, felt soothing, and somewhat melancholy. She couldn't help but think of Naomi and her house. Her house had the same must-smell the screen did.

**A/n: This is a very hard smell to describe…do me a favor, and go sniff a screen; you'll know what I'm talking about. xP**

A gentle knock came at the door. Tess slipped off the bed, took the three steps necessary to get to the door, clicked on the light, and answered it.

"Hey, Tess," Frankie was standing in the doorway. "I just was passing your room and wanted to know if you were settling in okay."

Tess gave a weak smile. "Come in, I guess," she looked around to see if there was anywhere for Frankie to sit. There really wasn't except the bed, which they both headed for and sat down on.

"So, d'you need anything?" Frankie inquired after an elongated pause.

Tess shrugged. "No," she looked around, searching for something that hadn't been provided for. Not finding anything, she shrugged again and said, "Don't think so…"

Frankie suddenly wrinkled her nose. "What in the world is that smell?" She couldn't help but being appalled.

Tess tried to be polite. "I don't exactly know, but, uh, I'm pretty, uh, sure it's the blankets." She went lightly red around the cheeks at being critical, but she knew it would be impossible to sleep with the intoxicating odor.

Frankie bent down and gave a sniff to the sheets. "Eew, groaty! Yeah, that's _definitely_ the blankets! Sheesh, who in the world gave you these things?" Frankie asked disgustedly.

"Uh, well, I'm not exactly…" Tess knew full well Bloo had handed her the sheets, but she liked Bloo; she didn't want him to be mad for her ratting out his mistake.

"It was Bloo, wasn't it?" Frankie raised an eyebrow. _Gosh, how'd she know?_ Tess thought.

"Yeah, it was Bloo." Frankie confirmed after one look at Tess' surprised face. "Oh, don't look so surprised; I remember telling him to." She stood up, gently nudging Tess off the bed too. She began to gather up the offending covers, and started talking again.

"Sorry your room's so small, Tess; it's probably one of the smallest in the house," she paused, struggling with a particularly stubborn corner of the blanket, "Ugh, jeez, c'mon, you stupid…!" she said to the covers, finally managing to wriggle them free. "Oh, sorry; anyways, the reason it's so small is because, this used to be a utilities closet," Frankie confessed.

_I knew it!_ Tess thought, and smiled.

"So, we decided to convert it when the house got really overcrowded a year or so back," Frankie lifted the blankets so that they almost covered her face, causing her words to be muffled.

She cautiously shuffled to the door, and motioned Tess to follow. They walked down the corridor to a chute, where Frankie deposited the blankets, and then they headed down a flight to a linen closet to get replacements.

When they passed a particular door, a dreadful voice rent the air.

"Frankie! There you are!" Frankie froze in place the second she heard the nails-on-chalkboard voice. "I cannot believe you would have the impudence to ignore my summons! Come in here _now_!" Frankie and Tess turned to look at the origin of the voice.

A tall, hideous, 1-Dimentional yellow thing resembling a cubist painting was standing in a particularly expensive-looking doorway. It had a messed up, disarranged face, and short, elephant-like nose, and a royalty-resembling white dress with a vile white fur collar.

"Did you not hear me?" the creature shrieked, "I said _now_! Now, now, now, now, now! Get in here, you impudent child! I need you _discuss _something with you!" The thing glared daggers at Frankie; Tess instantly disliked this creature, whatever it was.

"Cant you see I'm a little busy right now, Duchess? Jeez, can't it wait a few minutes?" Frankie's face was livid, but Tess could see her trying to cover her exasperation.

"NO! I've already waited fifteen minutes, and it cannot wait any longer!" It stamped its foot.

Frankie rolled her eyes and followed the snotty thing inside the room. Tess followed too, but hung back, standing just outside the door, looking in on the scene.

"I cannot believe you let him disrespect me so!" The living cubist painting started shouting. "Look what that little blue creature and his annoying little boy did to my precious mirror!" She seemed close to hysterics as she pointed to a gold-framed full-length mirror encrusted with various expensive-looking jewels. It was covered with what seemed to be vanilla pudding, silly-string, and Oreo cookies. It was quite a mess. There was even a swirl of whipped cream on top, balancing a bright red candied cherry.

Frankie looked doubtful. "How do you _know_ it was Bloo and Mac, Duchess?" She folded her arms.

"Because, it is _exactly _the kind of thing that they would do! _They_ are the trouble makers of this house!" She was growing red in the face, something that didn't suit her awful looks at all.

Frankie stood her ground. "Duchess, there are hundreds of other friends in this house that are just as likely candidates for doing this." She looked really annoyed now.

Duchess got even redder, and was now bending forward and yelling, fists clenched, to make her point. "IT WAS THEM, I KNOW IT!! DON'T TRY TO JUSTIFY THEM!!"

Frankie, unmoved, rolled her eyes again. "So what do you want me to do about it?"

"I want you to clean this up, and then punish the bandits responsible for it!"

"WHAT??" Frankie looked appalled. "I am NOT cleaning that up, and am NOT going to punish someone that we have no evidence against! What is you problem?"

"I demand that you clean this up, an…" Tess caught Duchess' eyes. "What is that little doll in here for?" She demanded of Frankie. "What are you staring you little infantile, loathsome child?" She redirected the question to Tess.

Tess cringed back behind the door-jam a little farther.

"Forget it, Duchess! If you're gonna treat Tess that way, there's absolutely _no_ way I'm cleaning up this mess." Frankie turned on her heal and stomped out of the room.

"Where do you think you are going, Frankie? I need this mess cleaned up NOW! I do not deserve this torment! COME BACK NOW!!" Her protests went on ignored by Frankie, who put her arm around Tess' shoulder, and lead her back down the hall to the linen closet. Duchess was screeching now, she was so upset. "YOU COME AND CLEAN THIS UNSIGHTFUL MESS UP THIS INSTANT, OR I'LL…" They didn't hear the last part, because they had made it to the stair-well, and Frankie closed the door on the racket.

Tess gave a frightened look to Frankie. "What in the…?"

"That," Frankie sighed, "Is Duchess; FYI, it's not a good idea to cross her like that. She's a very angry Friend. She thinks she's all that, but, as you just saw, she's not." She gave Tess an ironic smile. Tess couldn't help but smile back.

"So that is Duchess…" Tess gave an even wider, wickeder grin. She had a few plans for this 'Duchess' woman…

**A/n: so, there. That was chapter 2. this took a lot longer than an hour. . oh, well. I hoped you liked it!! Don't forget to review now. (One moving day down, one more to go. Yep. You guessed it. I get to move again sometime in the next month or two…. only, into our own house with mom, not just into my bedroom at dad's…well, wOOt. I get to look forward to a lot this summer…**


	3. Final Goodbye's

Disclaimer: I don't own Fosters or Toyota, now here we go!

Chapter 3: Final Goodbye's

Tess was in the arcade with Bloo, Wilt, and Coco. They were all playing against each other in Crash-Smashers VI, and Wilt was winning, closely tailed by Tess, and then by Coco, with Bloo in dead last.

"Curse you, and your vile fast cars!" Bloo was whining. He was sitting in the middle of the couch, controller in hand, leaning, whipping, and flailing all around.

_It's funny that he thinks dramatic body movements will improve his performance._ Tess thought.

"Argh! You guys are cheating, I just know it! Not fair, people!" Bloo was quite the sore looser, although Tess found his squirming all together too pleasing.

"You're really good at video games for someone only having one hand, Wilt." Tess praised, impressed.

"Oh, well, I don't know about that; sorry, you know, thanks, but I'm not all that…" Wilt was abashed. Compliments pleased him, but he never thought he deserved them.

"Argh, Coco! I _saw_ you cheating just now! I KNEW you were all plotting against me!" Bloo went into a fit of random primal screaming, common among all people who are not familiar with computer games (and to some who are).

"Co, coco!" She argued, "Co coco co co coco co coco, coco co coco, co coco, coco coco co coco co coco coco!"

"OH, YOU BIRD/AIRPLANE/TREE THING!!''

They were all laughing at his distress and anger when Frankie walked into the room.

"Hey, guys. I _heard_ something to the effect that you're beating Bloo badly." She laughed too.

"Hey, Frankie; sorry, are we being too loud? 'Cuz we can stop…?" Wilt offered.

"Well," she relented, "the 'Rabbit' would think so, but, you know; he designated this place for," she made quotation marks with her fingers, "'_recreational purposes_', so, I say you can make all the noise you want." She gave them a wicked grin and a wink. She leaned up against the back of the couch and looked at the TV screen.

Wilt's car was just passing over the finish line, Tess' only ½ a second behind him. Frankie, Wilt, and Tess cheered and gave each other high fives. Coco's car was only 15 seconds away from the finish line, and they started cheering her on. When she crossed, she jumped to her feet in glee.

She turned to Bloo. "CO!! Coco co, Co!!"

Bloo screeched, threw the controller at the TV, and folded his arms. "You win _this _time, bird, but we still have one more battle-crash-course to go! Ha, ha!"

Everyone groaned. The battle-crash-course was the only thing Bloo was good at. It was the round in between the races that required you to gain points by blowing up the other players at any cost; even if it meant destroying your own car in order to make them loose a life, something Bloo was very good at.

"He-eee-ere we GO!" the television set yelled that the group, announcing the start of the round. Within 30 seconds, Bloo had defeated them all with his self-proclaimed 'mad-destruction' skills. Everyone rolled their eyes at this.

"Oh, yeah, Tess," Frankie said, suddenly remembering something.

Tess turned to look at her to show she was listening.

Frankie looked a little sheepish. "Someone called for you a minute ago," She said, eyes kind of shifting back and forth.

"Yeah? Who? What'd they say?" Tess was excited. _Maybe it was Naomi!_

"Yeah, who?" Bloo interjected.

Frankie rubbed the back of her neck. "Well," she said slowly, "it was a guy named Fico, and,"

Tess looked away. Nothing good could come out of a phone call from Fico.

"He said," Frankie continued, "he said that he and a 'Naomi' were coming over later to sort things out for you." She gave Tess a hopeful smile.

Tess looked back at Frankie, dumbfounded. "N-Na-Naomi's coming over?" Joy spread over Tess like a wave over sand.

"Yeah," Frankie said, relieved that the news she said was good.

"They're coming to sort things out for me?" Tess grinned.

"That's what the guy said." Frankie relaxed, and leaned up against the sofa again.

Tess couldn't relax; she jumped to her feet for joy. "You're kidding me? Naomi—are you sure, Frankie?" She put her happiness on hold for a second to verify that she hadn't misheard Frankie.

Frankie straightened up and smiled like a big sister would. "I'm sure, kiddo. He said around three."

Tess looked around frantically for the nearest clock. It read 2:23. Tess quickly counted in fives in her head, "So…in about 40 minutes?"

"Yep."

"Alright!" She gave Wilt, Bloo, Coco, and Frankie all high-fives.

"Co Cococo co cococo?"

"Yeah," Tess said softly with a proud smile. "Naomi is my creator."

"Awesome," Wilt said, "I can't wait to meet her!"

Tess agreed, but secretly thought how great it would be to be home with Naomi within the next hour.

Tess sat, waiting anxiously in an armchair in the Foster's foyer, but turning quickly to sleep. She was anxious and bored, which made her depress, thus, all the more tired. She looked jadedly across the foyer and into the waiting room, where she could make out all the clocks ticking back and forth. One particularly large clock told her it was now 4:05.

She wanted to cry. How had she been so stupid? How had she actually believed that Fico would actually let her near to Naomi? How had she been so naïve as to believe that that monster would actually be willing to talk things out? Tess could have kicked herself.

That's when she heard the motor of Fico's black pick-up pull up outside. She couldn't help herself but to squeal. Overjoyed, she sprinted to the wide double-door front entrance, passing Madame Foster and Frankie.

"Tess, what…?"

But Tess ignored them and pulled open the door, wide. At the end of the walk, out on the street, stood the Toyota, beat up as ever, with Naomi and Fico getting out. She couldn't help herself. She dashed down the steps and across the lawn to greet Naomi.

"Naomi!" Tess threw her arms around the little girl's neck. "Oh, I've missed you! That was the hardest night ever, thinking I wouldn't see you again. Oh, but now you're here, and I can go home with you, and we can be happy like we were before this happened—what's wrong?" Tess had pulled back from the hug to get a good look at Naomi's face; the look there shocked her. It was a sad face; one of resignation, almost.

"We need to talk, Tessa," Naomi's face turned to stone. Somehow, the 8-year-old's tone was scaring Tess more than spending another night away from her. _Tessa? She called me by my full first name. She _never_ does that! What's going on?_

"O-okay, Naomi," she put on a brave face for her friend. "We can go back into…" She'd started walking back towards the house, but Naomi cut her off.

"No, Tess. I think we can talk good enough out here."

Tess' panic suppressers started working double time. She knew something bad was coming.

"Tessa," Naomi began. She glanced nervously at Fico before resuming her stony faced discourse. "Tessa, I came here to let you know you something very important." She looked at her feet, sighed, and looked back to Tess. "I don't ever want to see you again," she said it with a straight face, "Ever."

It felt as if a knife was stabbing Tess in the chest with every word Naomi spoke. She stared in disbelief at her creator. _Ever...? Did she really mean 'ever'?_

"Do you understand?" Naomi's words snapped Tess out of her thoughts.

_No!_ Tess wanted to scream. _No, Naomi, I _don't_ understand! Why are you doing this to me? What has that monster Fico done to you?_

Instead, she settled for shaking her head 'no'.

Naomi sighed, and shot another frightened glance at Fico. _He's forcing her to do this._ Tess realized.

"Tessa, I'm too old to have an imaginary friend. I'm a big girl now, and I don't—don't like you a-anymore." Tessa was in complete disarray. _You don't like me? Naomi, I don't understand! I need your help to understand!_

"Here," Naomi held out her arm, handing something to her imaginary friend. She handed Tess a pair of rag dolls holding between them a heart. Naomi's mom had made it for her when she was very little. One doll looked like Naomi, and the other was the spitting image of Tess. It had originally been Naomi's inspiration for her. Not just that, but it was Naomi's most prized possession. "I know you've always liked them more than I have. It's to remember me by."

Tess looked at the little replica of the two of them. She took it in her hand, immensely touched by her creator's last act of kindness towards her.

"Naomi…" Tess began.

"I got to go," Naomi looked away.

Undeterred, Tess leaned in, threw her arms around her neck and seized a last hug from her ex-best friend/creator. She felt Naomi's arms twitch in her direction, and begin to hug back. She'd almost gotten her arms around Tess, when a sudden clearing of throat rang through the air.

Tess felt a sudden force knock the air out of her painfully, and realized she was suddenly on the ground. Naomi had shoved her to the ground before running back to the Toyota without another word. At Fico's signal, Naomi forced herself to ditch her friend. Somehow, Tess knew that she would never talk to her again.

Bloo, Wilt, Coco, and Eduardo had been in there room, when they heard an excited squeal. Bloo glanced out the window to see a figure in a purple jumper running towards a beat up old truck.

"Hey," he said excitedly, "Tess' creator's here!"

"Really?" Wilt looked up from a computer magazine he was reading.

"Yeah," Bloo dashed for the door, "let's go meet her! The four of them went hurriedly down the stairs to meet the newcomer.

Bloo was the one to throw open the double doors to the porch, hitting Frankie squarely in the back. She and Madame Foster were standing out there, viewing the scene.

"Ouch…shhh!" She thrust out her arm to prevent them from going any further.

"HEY…!" Bloo started to protest before Frankie threw her hand over his mouth.

"SHHH!" she reinforced.

"Frankie," Wilt whispered, "what's wrong?"

Unrelenting, she put a finger over her lips and pointed towards the scene, where a young girl was handing something to Tess. The group watched in silence as Tess tried to hug the girl, but the girl pushed her to the ground and ran off. Something that really irked Frankie and Wilt—for they were the only ones who saw—was the smug look on the grubby, unshaven man's face as he'd gotten into the car: triumphant.

Nothing in the yard moved for a second. It was almost as if some giant person had taken a television remote and hit "pause", just to prolong the feeling of despair. Then, suddenly, Tess was moving fast. She sprang to her feet, and in a flash of purple and white, she'd pushed through them and tore in through the door, slamming it hard enough that it didn't catch, and bounced right back open, so as the assembly could watch her bolting up the stairs.

None of them moved for a second, before glancing uneasily at one another. No one knew exactly what to do. Frankie had dealt with people dumping off friends cruelly, like Tess had been yesterday, but never had anyone come back to rub it in deeper. She felt a terrible rage building inside of her towards the man who'd taken such pleasure in Tess' anguish.

Wilt, too, had seen people be incredibly rude to friends on the front lawn of Foster's, but hadn't ever seen someone come back to make things worse. In fact, one of the few people he'd seen come back at all was Mac when he'd come back for Bloo.

Bloo and Eduardo both had hardly an idea of what was happening, and were confused by it. Bloo was beginning to get angry, to the point of clenching his 'fists'—or whatever was at the end of his stubby appendages—and grinding his teeth. Eduardo, on the other hand, was beginning to cry.

Madame Foster was stony faced, having seen this more than once, which left Coco. Coco looked ready to kill something. Anyone that knew her knew that it was a stupid thing to do to cross her; she wasn't averse to doing something illegal. If she was angry, she was likely to carry a grudge either until amends were made, or until the wrongdoer was fittingly 'taken care of'.

A sudden angry voice came from inside the house.

"What is the meaning of all this racket? I shall have you know that slamming doors is strictly against house rules, and further more…" Mr. Herriman paused, seeing everyone looking in on the scene, "What are all of you doing standing there like petrified wood letting all the cold air out of the house?" He put his hands over his wide bunny hips.

Frankie sighed. "Nothing; okay, everyone, get back inside the house. There's nothing we can do for Tessa right now." She looked around, "Grandma, would you mind telling the Rabbit what's going on?" She said, migrating them all inside while she spoke.

"Oh, now, see here, woman…" Herriman was outraged.

"Oh, cram it, Rabbit!" And with that, she dashed off up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Madame Foster led Mr. Herriman back into his office, leaving Wilt, Eduardo, Bloo, and the vicious Coco standing awkwardly in the foyer.

"What the heck just happened?" Bloo said, angry and confused still. "I, somehow, was under the impression that Tess' creator was here to take her back, not push her down!"

"I know, Bloo, that's what we all thought." Wilt shook his head, placing his hand on the back of his neck.

"Is seniorita Tess going to be alright?" Eduardo looked scared. He was biting his nails nervously, and looking to everyone for support.

"Yeah, I think she'll be alright…" Wilt looked unsure.

"Co coco co co co coco co co co coco coco co co coco co cococo CO CO COCO CO!!" She was furious.

"No, Coco! We can't do that! I've told you before, that's against the law!" Wilt looked horrified at Coco's words.

"No, Wilt, I think I'm with Coco on this one. C'mon, Coco, let's go draw-and-quarter him! I don't think Frankie will mind if we use her knifes if we wash them after." The two of them started heading towards the kitchen, but Wilt put out a hand to stop Coco, and Eduardo, in a panic, grabbed Bloo and threw him over his shoulder.

"NO, SENIOR BLOO, YOU CAN'T, THAT ES LOCO!!" He started shaking the blue blob in all different directions, as if he could dislodge the thought from Bloo's head.

"Stop it, Eduardo. Sorry, but no one's going to be draw-and-quartering anyone. I'm sorry you don't like the guy, Coco, but you can't just go mutilate someone because they were mean to you, okay?"

Coco relented, but couldn't help passing another empty threat to no one in particular.

"You do that Coco," Bloo said, folding his arms, "sheesh, Wilt. What _can_ we do then?"

"Uh, well, uh…hmm, we could go see if Tess is alright." He offered.

"Yeah, that sounds awesome!"

They all agreed, and trudged up the stairs to the floor above their bedroom, finding a disgruntled Frankie knocking however gently, but obviously upset, on Tess' door.

"Come on, Tess, come out of there! Let's talk about it." There was only silence from the other side of the door.

"Oh, come on. It'll be alright."

Silence.

Bloo walked angrily up to the door and pounded on it. "Tess, come out here! C'mon, we need to plot revenge! Coco and I are all ready to cut this guy up! Let's go!"

"Bloo!" Frankie, Wilt, and Eduardo yelled together.

Silence.

"Tess, sorry, but would you please come out; I mean, if that's okay? We're worried about you. Please come out." Wilt, too, knocked gently on her door.

Silence.

Bloo pounded the door again, hard. "Come on!"

"What's going on?" A voice from behind them said, startling Eduardo, Frankie and Wilt.

"Oh, hi, Mac, you're late." Bloo said indifferently, "Tess locked herself in her room and won't come plot revenge with Coco and me! Do you have any ideas to get her out?"

Mac gave Bloo an annoyed 'are-you-kidding' look, then turned to Frankie. "What happened? Plot revenge on who?"

Frankie folded her arms and gave Bloo a sarcastic look, before answering Mac. "Her creator came by today to 'clear things up' with her. Really, her creator's dad made her cut Tessa off completely."

"Oh, wow." Mac looked surprised.

"Yeah, and now she's locked us out. We're worried about her." Frankie looked vexed.

"Here, Mac, why don't you try to talk some sense into her?" Bloo sat down hard on the floor and pouted.

"Me? Why me? I don't even know what happened! I just got here!"

"Please, Mac?" Frankie looked desperate.

Swayed, Mac walked cautiously closer to the door that Bloo was now kicking from his sitting position. "Stop that Bloo," he pushed Bloo by the head away from the door. He shied up really close to the door and started talking gently through it.

"Hi, Tess; uh, I heard you, uh, had a rough day today."

Silence.

"It sounds like it really stunk."

Silence.

"I'm guessing you don't want to talk about it right now, he, he." He laughed nervously.

Silence.

"Do you want us to go away for a while? I mean, if you need us, you can always come and talk, but should we leave you alone for now?"

Silence.

Mac was about to ask the question again, before a weak voice said from the other side of the door, "Yeah, Mac, that would be nice. Thanks."

"Okay," he said back. He turned and gave everyone a half-hearted smile. "Let's go, then. I guess she'll come to us when she's ready." He started down the hallway towards the stairs. Slowly, everyone else followed him, Frankie being the last to leave. She wanted to stay behind and help, but she knew there was nothing to do.

The house was quiet. Tess had her pace pressed up against the screen again, this time not to rid herself of a smell, but to remind herself of the past. She hugged tightly the rag doll pair Naomi had given her. She was trying to fall asleep for the millionth time since that afternoon, but it wasn't working.

She glanced at the clock above the door: 12:45. _No wonder it's so quiet now, _she thought to herself, _everyone's probably been asleep for hours now._

The moon was bright; not quite full, but it still lit the small room fairly well. She relaxed back onto her bed, and looked at the dolls. Tears welled up in her eyes again. _Odd, _she thought,_ I thought I was completely cried out. _She felt the precarious pools start to trickle down her face. She swiped at them. _No more crying for now, _she tried to be brave, _not tonight. _ Another part of her said, _oh, do what you want. Cry until your eyes fall out. There's nothing left to do now. Nothing else matters. _

She decided for the moment that it would be better to ignore the second voice. She needed to get up and walk; she needed to get some blood flowing in her system; she needed to find a bathroom. She placed the dolls carefully on her pillow, and walked quietly to the door, proceeding to the nearest bathroom, down the hall a ways.

"_Tess, you'll always be my bestest friend ever! You'll never not be my friend!" _echoes from the past started haunting her again. _"I'll always love you, too, Naomi! For ever and ever and ever!" They were standing by the swing that day, in the shade of the oak. Minutes before, Naomi had gotten the news that her mother was dead. Fico hadn't showed any emotion, and had told her like it was no big deal. But, to Naomi, it _was_ a big deal. She'd cried and cried. _

"_I don't want mommy to be dead!" She didn't see the rag doll forming next to her, for her hands were over her eyes. The doll placed a hand on Naomi's shoulder. When Naomi looked up, she saw a life sized version of the rag doll her mother made for her years before. She leaned in and hugged it, crying into her shoulder. _

"_You came just in time, dolly." She had moaned. "I miss mommy lots!" _

_Tess had hugged back, letting her creator cry until there was nothing left to cry. "I know, Naomi, I know. I think I'll miss her too." They were suspended in time for a long while. Finally, when Naomi couldn't cry anymore, she looked to her new imaginary friend. _

"_What's your name?" She had asked._

"_I don't know. You didn't give me one."_

"_Oh," she pondered for a moment. "I like the name Tessa," She offered, before she got an idea. "I can name you after my mom." She smiled a vague smile, "Your first name will be Tessa, and the rest will be 'Marie Lee'. I love you, Tess!"_

She walked, her eyes trained on the floor, in an attempt to avoid any large obstacles in her way. She didn't want to break anything by accident. Unfortunately, another figure was walking in her direction, eyes fixed up towards the ceiling in a huffy, look-down-your-long-yellow-elephant-like-nose-at-the-world sort of manner. Needless to say, Duchess and Tess collided with each other in a couple of seconds, knocking them both to the floor.

"W-wha-what? Who dares to interrupt my lovely evening stroll with their incompetence in navigation? Why do you not watch where you are going? Oh, 'tis you…" The superficial not-so-friend looked disgusted with Tess, like she hadn't expected anything better of her. This made Tess' blood boil. She gave the beast a half-hearted glare.

"Well, what am I to expect of insolent creatures such as yourself?" She rolled her eyes. "I cannot believe I share such close quarters with the despicable creatures that I do! It in itself is unacceptable, especially when they are not observant enough to avoid a simple collision!"

Tess would have liked nothing better than to tell her that it was partly her fault, because she'd been so caught up in her 'superiority' that she too had been unable to 'avoid a simple collision', but thought better of it. She knew that Bloo probably had thousands of tricks she could use on the Pompous Brat.

"…You aren't listening to me!" Duchess was screaming, breaking Tess from her thoughts. No, she hadn't been listening to Duchess' last couple sentences. "Listen to me whilst I am talking to you!" She was livid for no particular reason, it seemed. Tess was really irritated, and didn't feel like complying with anything. Instead, she stuck her tongue out at Duchess, just to aggravate her.

"Why, you insufferable little…" She grabbed the front of Tess' jumper, and pulled upward enough that Tess' toes were no longer touching the ground. However, Tess managed to maintain a quite steady look of defiance.

"You think that you are so great because you're a 'cute little dolly', but I know that you're only a bug, a bug that has come to pester me and make my existence in this house even more unbearable! I know that you and everyone else are plotting against me, but I intend to keep a very close eye on you." Her face was a centimeter away from Tess' own. She could smell Duchess' expensive perfume and feel her fowl breath grating at her skin. The sensations overwhelmed her, and she tried desperately not to gag.

"One wrong move and, well, you can ask your blue blob friend what I do to people who get in my way. Got it, punk?" With this, she let go of the jumper, and Tess fell to the floor again. She sat still and watched Duchess walk away and retreat back into her room. She shuddered and rubbed her face where the almost corrosive breath had scorched her.

"Lighten up," she muttered when the banshee had finally gone.


	4. Plotting Conspiracies

Disclaimer: Yeah

Disclaimer: Yeah. I own Tess. I own Naomi & Fico. I DO NOT own Foster's, and pretty much anything to do with it. I own myself… (I hope). I think I've covered all my bases now, so READ!!

Chapter 4: Plotting Conspiracies

Tess didn't understand what was happening to her. It was past 2 in the afternoon, and she had no desire to get up. She'd lain awake in bed for hours now. Whenever she tried to get up, her body refused to respond. She tried to roll over, and her leg would only twitch. When she tried to get her arm out from under her body because it was falling asleep, she could only shift her weight enough to stop cutting off circulation. To be honest, she was getting annoyed.

Her face was towards the wall the window was on, but the window was higher than her head, so she couldn't look out on the yard. She just stared at the wall instead, focusing on a crack in the drywall where someone had probably smacked their head jumping into the bed too quickly. (**A/n: I've done that. You should see the crack I left in my wall! XD) **It was about 10 inches long and almost seemed as if it was trying to spell out something. Each main crack spidered out into smaller, hair-like cracks, that almost seemed to be forming individual letters.

Tess' arm was falling asleep again, so she shifted her weight. When she looked back to the crack, it seemed to be forming vines and foliage instead. Curiosity intensely spiked, Tess found the strength and will-power to wriggle her arm out from under her, and feel the cracks. She passed her fist over it, and a bird seemed to fly across the crack 'scene'.

She blinked. _Okay, _She thought, _I think I should get up now, before I go any crazier. Sheesh, you'd think it would take longer for me to lose my mind. Besides, nature is calling, desperately._

Stealing herself up, she forced her limbs to respond to her mind's commands. She rolled off the bed and onto the floor, catching herself on hands and knees. Using the bed for support, she clambered to her shaky feet. _Dang, if my body had its own way, we'd be crawling to the bathroom._ She stumbled her way to the door, trying not to look too much like a klutz or a drunk, or something.

* * *

Tess once again was helping Frankie with chores. This time, they were kneeling in the 7th floor main corridor, scrubbing the floors by hand. They weren't talking hardly as much as they had been the day before when they'd worked together in the kitchen.

It was 3:45. Frankie had cornered Tess on her way back from the bathroom. Tess had had every intension of going back to her room and sleeping the rest of the day, but Frankie had talked her into helping with the chores again.

"…_Come on, Tess, I don't wanna scrub those floors by myself. It's a lot more fun with two people."_

_Tess looked at her shoes and shrugged sadly._

_Frankie looked around and sighed. "I know it hurts. I know exactly how it feels to lose a loved one. Trust me; it'll help a whole lot to get your mind off of it." She gave Tess a reassuring smile and put her hand on her shoulder._

_Tess tried to smile back at Frankie. She didn't want Frankie to have to do the chores all alone, and she decided she couldn't stay in bed all day._

"_Okay."_

"Ouch!" Tess hadn't been paying attention to her work. She'd caught her finger on a tile that stuck out above the rest.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just caught myself. I wasn't paying attention."

"Yeah, you know, you've seemed pretty distracted today. Is there anything you want to talk about?" Frankie gave a concerned look.

Tess didn't want to talk about what she was really feeling. She didn't want to talk about Naomi or Fico or anything else. She desperately rooted around in her mind that was bothering her except them.

"Nothing's really wrong," she decided on, "just something Duchess did last night has been bugging me a little…" She hoped Frankie would go for the bone.

"Duchess? Oh, jeez, what did she do?" Frankie stopped scrubbing and faced Tess angrily.

"Nothing, really," she said slowly. "Well, we bumped into each other last night, bumped being used in the literal sense, and she got aggravated."

"What did she do? Should I go beat her up for you?" Frankie started to get up.

"No!" Tess said frantically. "No, nothing really happened, just, she was watching me, and if I crossed her again, the same thing that happened to Bloo, she'll do to me, whatever that is..." she trailed off when she saw Frankie's face.

"She told you that?" Frankie sounded horrified.

"Yeah, why? What did she do to Bloo?" Right after she asked, she immediately didn't want to know.

"Oh, yeah, I guess you don't know that story yet," Frankie sighed, and went back to scrubbing. "Well, when Bloo first came to live at Foster's, there was this spoiled brat of a girl who was going to adopt Duchess. While we were in Mr. Herriman's office signing the paper work, she saw Bloo, and wanted him instead. She brought him in, and we almost adopted him out to her."

"What? Why? I thought Bloo was Mac's imaginary friend."

"He is, but if he has to come and visit Bloo every day by 3 o'clock or Bloo's eligible for adoption. The good thing was that just before we adopted Bloo to the girl, Mac came back so he wasn't adopted." She smiled, almost triumphantly.

"Wait," Tess was confused. "That doesn't explain why she threatened me with Bloo's fate. That's a good fate, isn't it?"

"No, actually, that's only the beginning of the story," She stopped scrubbing to floor for a second and looked into Tessa's eyes.

"Tess," Frankie went on, "Duchess is low; not just low, but really scum." She gave a serious look. "Duchess employed Mac's evil older brother, Terrance, to adopt—more like kidnap—Bloo, and took him to the junkyard."

Tess flinched. She'd heard of what happened at the junkyard. She'd heard of how it was overrun by extremeosaurus' and teenagers who made the evil imaginary friends fight. The whole thought of the place made her shudder.

"Exactly," Frankie said, noting Tess' reaction. "She set an extremeosaurus on him out of sheer petty jealousy." She shuddered at the memory. "She had every intension of _killing_ Bloo. Thankfully, Mac, Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco got there to help before the thing could eat Bloo, and we got there before anything bad happened to them." She sighed, relaxing enough to go back to scrubbing the floor.

Tess was shocked. She thought that Duchess was just a petty stiff, too high-and-mighty to get her hands dirty. She was surprised that she could come up with something so evil. "Wow…" she said.

"Wow is right; a word of advice: if she's threatening _that_, just try to stay out of her way."

"Well, don't _I_ feel comforted now!" Tess started scrubbing the floor again.

* * *

"Uh, Bloo, Frankie said we should probably stay out of her way…" Tess, Mac, and Bloo were sitting high in the branches of a tree in the backyard of Foster's.

"Oh, psh, Ms. Worry Wart," Bloo said, waving a dismissing hand at her, "she's already rained doom upon my shoulders, and I lived. Besides, Mac 'n' I have pulled _tons_ on her since, and she hasn't done it again." He was pouring over blueprints, or '_Bloo_prints' as he'd called them, for an evil plot he'd come up with for "the demise of the villainous Duchess".

"You're right, Bloo, but I think Tess does have a point," Mac called over from a different branch, where he was lying on his stomach like a cat. "She's rained doom upon _your_ head, but that doesn't mean she won't rain doom on Tess if we provoke her." Seemingly experiencing a slight fear of heights at the moment, Mac was holding onto the branch as hard as he could. His knuckles were actually turning white.

Tess nodded in agreement, hoping to convince Bloo further. _Why did I even decide to tell him about last night?_ She could have kicked herself for telling him. He decided to take it personally, and was now bent on revenge against the horrible banshee.

"Regardless, Mac," Bloo said, brandishing the blueprints, "that witch picked Tess up by the front of the shirt; the _shirt_, Mac!"

"Nu-uh," Mac argued.

"What…?"

"She grabbed her by the front of her _dress_, not her shirt,"

"Regardless, Mac" Bloo continued, "Duchess felt the need to reach out and grab the front of Tess' dress and just pick her up rudely! Can you believe the insult that brings?" he put his arm over his face dramatically, emphasizing his distraught-ness.

"And…?" Mac said, a little annoyed.

"And, that's why we have to avenge poor Tessa!" he was acting all dramatic again.

"Um, hello, I'm still here! You don't have to avenge me,"

"Regardless…!"

"Bloo!" Tess and Mac shouted together.

"Stop saying 'regardless'. It's getting really annoying!" Mac managed to sit up a little on the branch.

"Fine!" Bloo folded his arms for a moment before getting excited about his plan again. "So, anyway, guys, you gotta come look at this plan! It's totally awesome!" Mac slowly scooted himself over to the branch and sat himself next to Bloo, while Tess leaned closer to see what was actually on the paper.

In silence the trio studied the paper for a minute, Bloo looking triumphant, and the other two looking a mix of emotions, ranging from horror, to surprise, to comprehension, and back to horror.

"You actually expect me to believe that'll work?" Tess laughed in disbelief.

"Yes, actually," Mac answered her, the horror still in his face. "We've actually done this one before. Bloo, why do you think this'll still work? Don't you think she'd gotten smarter since we've done it?"

Bloo shook his head patronizingly. "Mac, you small minded fool," he began, "first of all, this isn't the _exact_ same plan that was; this one's better." He smiled proudly, his tongue sticking out. "Second," he continued, "last time we only had 31 smoke bombs, hardly a mere trifle to what we'll need for this one, and third, you get to keep your pants in this one."

A little of the color came back to Mac's face. "How very considerate of you." He said dryly.

"It is, isn't it?" Bloo replied, smug.

Tess gave them a disgusted 'I-really-don't-care-to-know-the-details' look.

"Oh it's not as bad as you think!" Bloo waved his hand at her pompously again.

"Hey, guys what're you doing?" A red head with a wonky eye seemed to float into the middle of their group.

"Hi, Wilt," they all said guiltily, hiding the blueprints.

A little suspiciously, he asked again, "What're you guys up to?"

"Oh, nothing Wilt, my fine fellow," Bloo answered for them, "We're just enjoying the wonderful summer air and our precious youth by climbing trees…without making evil plots of any kind."

"Okay…" Wilt said thrown off, but unconvinced.

"What are _you_ up to?" Bloo threw accusingly back at Wilt.

"Oh, oh, yeah, Frankie sent me out here to get you guys. It's almost dinner time, and she said you probably couldn't hear the dinner bell from out here."

"Oh,"

Relieved, the trio climbed down from the tree, and followed Wilt to the dining room. All three took chairs next to one another, Bloo in the middle, and continued to look over the apparent plan under the table. Soon, the dinner bell rang, and friends started pouring into the dining room faster than moths to a light bulb.

The inevitable bumping of people into the three wasn't too noticeable, not even to Tess, who hated being touched by others, but sudden cold hands on Mac's and Tessa's shoulder made the three jump right out of their skins.

"Hello, darlings," a deep, icy, horrible voice came from behind them. Duchess had her terrible grips on their shoulders, and was squeezing hard. Her face was close down next to Bloo's own face, and her fetid breath seemed to be cleaving at his flesh as it had Tess'. "I hope you are not getting into any trouble today," Duchess said, acting falsely sweet, and somehow managing to squeeze her and Mac's shoulders harder, "especially you, Miss Tessa."

Bloo, swiftly as soon as he'd realized who it was, had thrown the plans he'd been holding under the table, hoping they wouldn't float too far away.

"What was that you had in your hand, little blue friend?" She asked, as sweet as pie. The three shuttered at the sheer nails-on-chalkboard sound her 'sweet' voice.

"I-it was just a drawing I did, and was showing to them." Bloo piped up, voice an octave higher than it usually was.

"Ah, a budding artist, I see," she said standing up to her fullest and letting go of her death grip on their shoulders, "well, I will have to see some of your work, one of these days, and see if it compares at all to my masterful self." With this she gave a pompous sneer and walked off to seat herself further up the table.

Simultaneously, Mac, Bloo, and Tess all slumped in their chairs in relief. "Don't worry," Bloo muttered, "You'll be seeing some of my work real soon." He gave the others a malicious grin, and slid under the table to retrieve the blueprints.

* * *

After Mac went home, Bloo tried to get Tess to do some stake-out on Duchess' room. Bloo was standing on one side of the door, and Tessa was strapped to the ceiling with dental floss and gummy bears.

"I think I've learned my lesson not to listen to any of your plans, now, Bloo." She murmured down to him. She was trying to scrape gummy bear guts off of her hands, which was made difficult, seeing as she was hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"Oh, don't listen to Mac, Tess!" Bloo countered. "He's just jealous that he can't come up with these awesome schemes on his lonesome." The blob folded his arms haughtily.

"Actually, Mac didn't tell me not to listen to you," she whispered back, grinning, "I kind of figured it out on my own."

"Bu..!"

"Oh, just get yourself up here before she comes out!" She hissed. She knew that if Duchess caught them out there, they'd be toast served for her breakfast next to poached eggs and ham. She shuddered to think of it.

"Fine," Bloo finished rigging his gummy bear floss pulley system, and pulled himself up, 'secret agent' style.

"Now," Tess whispered when he'd gotten to her level, "how, exactly, are we supposed to 'infiltrate' her room from here? I mean, we're on the ceiling, she's in her room, its dark, and she's probably not coming out for anything!"

Ironically, just as Tessa spoke these last words, the doorknob to Duchess's door turned. Both imaginary friends silenced immediately, hearts racing, and tried to scrunch themselves closer to the ceiling to get further away from what they knew to be certain doom.

They could hardly tell when Duchess walked out. All they could really see was a line moving, elongating, and fluctuating (after all, she is 2-D). As she walked away, they could see her better and better. They both waited to even move again until she turned a corner and they could no longer hear her feet on the wooden floors. Tess slowly let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding. She heard Bloo do the same. They exchanged amused looks, before Bloo lowered himself down enough to open the door, and they were in.

**Note: at this point, the author had an uncontrollable fit of giggles that came out of nowhere, and lasted a good 10 minutes, and consisted of her drooling all over a table. She just thought that you'd like to know.**

Inside, Bloo lowered himself to the floor and motioned for Tess to follow suite. The whole point of breaking in, apparently, was to plant some vital equipment for the plan that they were doing tomorrow. Bloo scampered around the room, looking all 'spy' like, while Tess made a further attempt to get the gummy bear goop of her hands and out of her hair.

"Okay," Bloo whispered, "we have 4.3 minutes 'til she's expected to get back. We've got to make the most of it. Tess," he said, dramatically turning and pointing at her, "give me the cheese-wiz and shaving cream. You take care of the Cheerio's and sugar cubes. When we're done, we can handle the Oreo's together." She did as she was told, and soon, the room looked just as it had when they'd first come in. And that's how it was supposed to be. Duchess couldn't suspect anything 'til tomorrow, when they were going to carry out the plan.

As they were finishing up hiding the Oreo's throughout the room, they heard footsteps out in the hall. They both gasped and turned to the door.

"…I don't care how you do it, as long as you do it to the highest standard or perfection, Frankie! Do it, and do it _NOW_!!"

"Uh-oh," Bloo said, "Duchess is back!"

As quickly as they could, they ran back to the gummy bear floss rigging, and hoisted themselves back up to the ceiling.

_I hope we've got enough Oreo's going, _Tess thought as she and the blob moved towards the door. _I don't want to have the simplest part of the plan go wrong for lack of those happy wrong cookies._

Duchess, obviously agitated, twisted the doorknob. Bloo and Tess got ready to go through the door as she opened it. Tess prayed she was as stupid as Bloo said, and would have her eyes closed in a huffy, too-good-and-yellow-for-you manner. She held her breath.

**Note: The author fell into another uncontrollable fit of giggles here, and was unable to continue typing for a very long time. If you wish, you may go and get yourself something to eat, or go to the bathroom at this point, for it will take her an awful long time to collect her thoughts again, and be able to grace you with the rest of the chapter. **

They expected the line that was Duchess to come through the door, but it didn't. Instead, they heard her from just outside the door yelling at Frankie.

"…I told you, insolent woman, my tea is to be ready for me perfectly and precisely four times a day! In the morning, an hour after breakfast; with my lunch; at four o'clock sharp; and four hours after dinner! It is exactly four hours past dinner, 10 o'clock! Why is my tea not made to perfection?"

As the vile banshee was screaming, half bend over, at Frankie, Bloo and Tess managed to escape, unnoticed, back onto the hallway ceiling. When Duchess finally gave up on screaming, they scurried along the hall ceiling, and back to Tess' room, where they collapsed on the bed, laughing uproariously.

"I-I-I can't believe it worked!" Bloo giggled, hysterically.

"I know-I-I know!" Tess was holding her stomach. She was laughing so hard it hurt.

"I can't wait to tell Mac that one of my plans went smoothly and successfully; no flaws at all!"

"What are you guys doing?" A head full of red hair poked in from the hallway. "Guys, it's past your bedtime. What're you doing up? Did Duchess wake you with her banshee-ness?"

The two tried to suppress their giggles, and gave Frankie innocent looks, trying to convince her that they hadn't done anything wrong.

"Nothing," Bloo said, "We've been doing absolutely nothing. You should go to bed. We've got ourselves under control." He was unconvincing, having tittered his way through his explanation.

Frankie came the rest of the way into the room and folded her arms. "What did you do?" She sounded resigned to whatever mischief they'd been doing.

"He, he, nothing, Frankie," Tess could hardly contain the insane laughter that was trying to burst out of her, "Like Bloo said, you should go back to bed. We're not doing anything tonight! Trust us!" she managed to keep her face under check during the last sentence.

Frankie was skeptical, but decided to let it go for the moment. "Okay, guys, but you'd better be telling the truth. No funny stuff tonight, do you hear me? No funny stuff! Promise?"

They smiled and nodded. "We promise!"

"'Kay, then," she said slowly, "Bloo back to your own room, and get to bed, now! Tess, get in bed, yourself."

The two friends did as they were told, Bloo leaving, and Tess getting under the covers. Frankie gave Tess a mischievous smile, and said, "You guys are planning something, I just know it."

Tess shrugged and gave a vague, incriminating smile.

"I know you are; is whatever you're planning any good?"

Tess nodded.

"Does it involve massive clean up for me?" She gave Tess a look that said, 'cuz-if-it-is…'

"No, we'll clean it up if we make a mess."

"Okay, then, I'll hold you to that. I don't wanna be cleaning up after Bloo's insane schemes forever, you know."

Tess just smiled.

"Goodnight, then," Frankie moved to close the door, then thought of something, and came back in.

"Who are you plotting against?"

Tess shrugged a little sheepishly and said, "Oh, you know, no one." Her eyes darted around the room, trying to find a legitimate excuse.

"You're plotting against Duchess, aren't you?" Frankie said flatly. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Well, yeah…"

"You know you really shouldn't! Duchess has been on a real evil rampage lately. She's not stable right now. You should wait a few weeks 'til she's become a little saner again. I know, I've lived with her pretty much my whole life."

Tess looked at the bed and started picking at a loose string in the comforter.

Frankie sighed. "Promise me you're not going to do something stupid."

Tess continued picking at the blanket.

"Promise!" She said, a little desperately.

She shrugged and nodded.

Unconvinced, Frankie turned back to the door. "Okay, I guess we'll have to see if you keep that promise. I just don't want you hurt." She looked back to Tess and smiled. "And don't let Bloo destroy the house again, please?"

Tess grinned and nodded, feeling a little guilt start to build in the back of her mind as she was already planning to break her promise to Frankie.

"G'night, then Tessa."

"Night, Frankie."

Frankie shut the door, and Tess lay back on the bed. _Tomorrow's gonna be a big freaking day._

**A/n: Okay, so this is going on longer than I thought, but that's okay. I'm not going over 6 chapters on this. There's only two left. (Okay, I'll probably extend it to 7 chapters, then 8, then 9, and so on. Oh, well. When it's done it's done. Hope you liked, and don't forget to review! xP**

**Imp**


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